Energy of the New Year, December 17th, Thoughts of the Day

Those of you interested in Astrology or Numerology may be familiar with the concept that every day has a unique energy.  A unique set of possibilities, surprises, gifts and difficulties or issues rather.

As each day and each year have their unique energies, so does our own years as well.  What do we mean? Well, according to numerology, starting on the day of our birthday every year of our lives offer a different energy to live and deal with. Some say that this is how our destiny is set and revealed. Some believe that a child is born at a time that has been predetermined and that date and time identify that child’s destiny. So, every year, his or her year up until his or her birthday and after the birthday offer different possibilities for the child, for the person. These two time fragments have different energies and will affect the person differently.  In short, the numerological year starts and ends with our birthdays.

Let’s look at what number 2016 is in Numerology. 2016 adds up number 9. 2+1+6=9.  What does the number 9 say to us in general?

Well, 9 is usually told to be about introspection.  It’s considered to be about going inward, maybe learning to connect or connecting with our inner voice, with the inner voice of our spirit, the real voice of the universe as some may call.

9 is usually told to be about searching for internal fulfillment and about finding it.  In 9, there is a connection with the real truth.  How can I describe this state better? You know, there are times when regardless of what is happening outside, at work, with friends, with the World, regardless of how bad everything might seem and be, regardless of the cloudy greyness and darkness in life, internally we may still feel complete, safe, light and delightful.  That feeling of feeling complete without needing anything or anyone or at least needed less from outside is considered to be about the energy of number 9 in a year or day or a person.  9 is taken to be about searching, experimenting and sometimes reaching that state.  This may involve spending more time alone and being aware that we can always choose not to be alone.

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There is an important date for many Turks , Muslims and Sufis in December.  December 17^th. 

December 17^th is the death anniversary of Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi. That date is considered to be a date of a wedding since according to Rumi and his disciples that is the date he returns to God.

 Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi lived in the 13^th century, spent most of his life in Anatolia and passed away in the city of Konya on December 17^th, 1273. 

Rumi - that is the name most of the World know him and call him by, although we Turks use the word Mevlana - was a scholar, teacher, religious and spiritual master, a master of words and poetry.  For many he is a true example of showing how one learns to surrender to God completely and with utter love.

This year let’s look into what this December 17^th might be telling us through its interpretation in Numerology. To be able to look that up for this year, we need to make a calculation to find its number in Numerology.  We need to reduce it to a number including or less than 22.  17.12.2015 can be reduced to the 22 possible numbers of Numerology by adding up the numbers of the date and month first.  17+12. 29. Then, we add 2015 and 29. That is 2044. And now we need to add up the individual numbers is 2044. 2+ 0+ 4+ 4. The result comes out as the number 10.

Some believe that the Universe is based on a mathematical system and that life and destiny is designed and may be revealed through math. Through numbers. Sufis and Kabalists are known to look into the number values of name, prayers and the holly texts and look for answers in the numbers that come up and appear.  Numerology tries to do it in its own simpler way. Let’s look into what the energy December 17^th offers might be telling us this year.

10 is told to be about expansion. It is believed to contain an energy of break-throughs. Unexpected goodness and positive personal self-realizations may appear.  How that date will actually live out in our lives is of course for us to discover.  If we choose to listen to Rumi, we might need to let go of all our expectations and just surrender to what is or surrender to God.  And maybe that will involve doing what we can with what we see and discover.

And let’s leave the last words to RUMI. 

From the book The Glance (A translation of RUMI by Coleman Barks):

The Self We Share

Thirst is angry at water. Hunger, bitter

with bread. The cave wants nothing to do

with the sun. This is dumb, the self-

defeating way we’ve been. A gold mine is

calling us into its temple. Instead, we

bend and keep picking up rocks from the

ground. Every thing has a shine like gold,

but we should turn to the source! The

origin is what we truly are. I add a little

vinegar to the honey I give. The bite of

scolding makes ecstasy more familiar. But

look, fish, you’re already in the ocean:

just swimming there makes you friends with

glory. What are these grudges about? You

are Benjamin. Joseph has put a gold cup

in your grain sack and accused you of being

a thief.  Now he draws you aside and says,

“You are my brother. I am a prayer. You’re

the amen.”  We move in eternal regions, yet

worry about property here. This is the

prayer of each:  You are the source of my

life. You separate essence from mud. You

honor my soul. You bring rivers from the

mountain springs. You brighten my eyes. The

wine you offer takes me out of myself into

the self we share. Doing that is religion.

*

With love and light.

Zeynep

December

December is the month of Rumi for me.  The great Sufi master Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi passed away on December 17^th, 1273 in the city of Konya in Turkey.  He is known as a poet, a theologian, a sufi mystic.  He is the best selling poet in the US.   He is even better known abroad and I believe that his energy, his soul belongs to the highest truth and therefore is valuable to people of very different beliefs and traditions. 

December 17^th is celebrated in remembrance of his reunion with his Creator. 

And every December I like connecting with his writings a little more, in order to connect with his wisdom.  Kabbalistic teachings say that we are able to connect with the energy, the soul, the wisdom of a person on the yearly anniversary of their death.  Kabbalist say that to increase our awareness, we can connect to the energy of a Tzadik on their death anniversary, which in the Jewish tradition means a righteous person or spiritual master.   I would like to write more on Kabbalistic traditions in the future articles.

In the Turkish Islamic tradition it is also customary to pray for loved ones who have passed away on the anniversary of their passing.  It is considered important to make sure that we pray for them, for their soul on those dates.

I believe that it is possible to connect with those who have passed away.  That it is possible to communicate. The important thing is, why do you want to connect?  If there is a need, a real need, it is possible, it will happen.  It can happen anytime, anywhere. However, I have also seen that it is possible to connect with some souls on their death anniversary, and/or near their graves.  Sometimes it is easier and more possible to connect with hem in places that they like or find important, or used to find peaceful and serene. 

And sometimes out of nowhere, we will feel their presence.  We will hear their voice or just know that they have given us an answer or a message. 

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One of the personal development tools that I love is the Transformation Game of Joy Drake and Kathy Tyler.   This spiritual game is an amazing tool that helps us to connect with our inner wisdom as well as what we might call Universal Wisdom. 

The creators of the Transformation Game sent me an e-mail at the beginning of this December, they do at the beginning of every month, inviting me to connect with the Angel of Wisdom this December.  Wisdom really seemed like the perfect angel to connect to this month.  In the Transformation Game, concepts like Wisdom are defined as angels, or rather that some concepts are also strong energy frequencies that we might invite and experience and communicate with, that we might also call Angels.

As always, intention is the key.

The Universe provides us with information, with power to know, with strength, with power to heal ourselves and others. However, the ability to use or have any of these depends on our intentions.  Are we respectful to free will?  Are we respectful of others’ choices even if we do not agree with them?  Of course, we have the full right to protect ourselves if others violate our rights.  You know what I mean,  are we manipulating others to make our wishes, our ideas to come true, or are we working to allow what is meant to happen to come alive? The information is always there. The power is always there.  Whether we will be able to see it or use it depends on choices and intentions.

*

And RUMI has said most of it so well so long before…

Two Kinds of Intelligence

There are two kinds of intelligence: One acquired,
as a child in school memorizes facts and concepts
from books and from what the teacher says,
collecting information from the traditional sciences
as well as from the new sciences.

With such intelligence you rise in the world.
You get ranked ahead or behind others
in regard to your competence in retaining
information. You stroll with this intelligence
in and out of fields of knowledge, getting always more
marks on your preserving tablets.

There is another kind of tablet, one
already completed and preserved inside you.
A spring overflowing its springbox. A freshness
in the center of the chest. This other intelligence
does not turn yellow or stagnate. It’s fluid,
and it doesn’t move from outside to inside
through the conduits of plumbing-learning.

This second knowing is a fountainhead
from within you, moving out.

*

With best wishes,

Zeynep

When Nothing Brings Peace...

When nothing brings peace to my mind and heart, Rumi does.

When I want to read and keep walking among my bookshelves and cannot allow myself to let go to any one of them, I pick a book on Rumi, of Rumi.

He is the light that feels so familiar, so gentle and true.

God bless those who are able to share and spread Mevlana’s light, who are able to stay true to his soul.  Coleman Barks is surely one of them.

This week’s words are from Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi:

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Having Nothing

Whatever comes, comes from a need,

a sore distress, a hurting want.

Mary’s pain made the baby Jesus

Her womb opened its lips

and spoke the Word.

Every part of you has a secret language.

Your hands and your feet say what you have done.

Every need brings in what’s needed.

Pain bears its cure like a child.

Having nothing produces provisions.

Ask a difficult question,

and the marvellous answer appears.

Build a ship, and there will be water

to float it. The tender-throated infant cries,

and milk drips from the mother’s breast.

Be thirsty for the ultimate water.

Then be ready for what will come

pouring from the spring.

*

Mirror and Face

We are the mirror as well as the face in it.

We are tasting the taste this minute

of eternity.  We are pain and what cures pain, both.

We are the sweet cold water

and the jar that pours.

*

The Breeze at Dawn

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.

                Don’t go back to sleep.

You must ask for what you really want.

                Don’t go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth across the doorsill

                where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.

                Don’t go back to sleep.

*

Majesty and Helplessness

Always check your inner state

with the lord of your heart.

Copper does not know it’s copper

until it is changing into gold.

Your loving does not know its majesty,

until it knows its helplessness.

*

The Sacred Liquid

Are you jealous of the ocean’s generosity?

Why would you refuse to give

this gift to anyone?

Fish don’t hold the sacred liquid in cups.

They swim the huge fluid freedom.

...

May the Divine lead us all to our true paths.  May we be surrounded by love and light.

Zeynep

Quote of the Week:

“Talents are common; everyone has them.  But rare is the courage to follow our talents where they lead.”

-          Anonymous

Affirmation of the Week:

From Louise L. Hay:  “I do something new – or at least different – every day.”

The Glance

I began reading Rumi again lately.  I believe that the American professor of poetry and creative writing Coleman Barks has written some of the best books on Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi.  “The Glance, Songs of Soul-Meeting” is one of them.  It is as if Coleman makes a different side of Rumi visible.  The Rumi that we get to know in Turkey, through Turkish text is a little different.  Maybe the truth is that what the author believes who Rumi is, is reflected in the interpretation as well as in the energy of their books.  Isn’t that how we behave most of the time as well? Regardless of the words we use, what we mean, what we intend to say comes across more strongly.  And we share as we see and understand...

Today “The Glance” reminds me of a totally different book, “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell.  “Blink, The Power of Thinking without Thinking”.  The main idea in “Blink” is what use in my consulting and complementary therapy work.  After years of training and working with hundreds of clients in Turkey and over the world, I have to admit that the answers to most of my clients’ questions do not come from a text book or a training or from the teachings of one of my masters.   Most of the answers come from the insights of the clients themselves.  If I feel that it is necessary, I also share what I see or sense about the situations.  My answers and theirs answers usually come in an instant.   And that instant for me usually comes in the first few seconds of meeting the client or in the few seconds after a question is asked. 

There is a special kind of knowing which may come through years of experience, but it also comes through reading, receiving information that is always available for all of us, all of the time waiting to be received.  Being aware of the fact that there is always more data than that which can be measured by our five senses, helps.  We do have another or rather other senses that feed us information, and very valuable information.  The information is always coming.  Are we aware of this inflow?  Are we listening? The answer to that question makes all of the difference.  “Blink” has a lot more to say.  As I am reading it for the fourth time, I am becoming aware of the details I had missed before.   There are parts that I would like to share in the coming weeks.

Malcolm Gladwell writes so fluently, it is not possible to admire and also a bit jealous.  How he connects all of the details is quite amazing.  The famous child and adult psychiatrist Prof. Yankı Yazgan was in Fethiye on May 2^nd this year as one of the guests of the 5^th Fethiye Culture and Art Days.  I came from and went back to Istanbul with his that day and we had a lot of time to talk and share.  I was starting to reread Blink on the plane and he told me about some of the details in the book.  Dr. Yazgan said that although the medical and research information shared in “Blink” have been known for quite some time, he also admired the way Gladwell shares so much information in a way that is both detailed, but easy to read by a wide audience.  Dr. Yankı Yazgan himself has ten or eleven books in Turkish.  One of his books is being translated into English and hopefully will be out by 2013.

*

Rumi is a lot of different things to a lot of different people.  Many people in touch with spirituality feel connected to him.  Want to connect with him, his thoughts and energy more.  I cannot say that I started to feel more and more connected to him after I started to learn energy techniques such as Reiki.  I felt more connected because it was as if his words were resonating in me, around me as I was reading the words that he left behind.  The strength of the energy of his words, especially his poetry affected me. Like the words of a special prayer, some of his poems come to my mind at the most unexpected times and I find myself reciting, quietly or out loud.  Not all of his work, not all of the words that are told to be his.  But does that matter? Not really.  Because also his energy is present in the most unexpected occasions and places as well.  There is more that what meets the eye and still it is never something I am able to totally get used to. 

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Like cool, fresh water Rumi washes me clean from the meaningless chatter in my mind...

Stay together, friends.

Don’t scatter and sleep.

Our friendship is made

of being awake.

The waterwheel accepts water

and turns and gives it away, weeping.

That way it stays in the garden...

Stay here, quivering with each moment

like a drop of mercury.

*

Let love lead your soul.

Make it a place to retire to,

a kind of cave, a retreat

for the deep core of being.

*

Begin

This is now. Now is. Don’t

postpone till then. Spend

the spark of iron on stone.

Sit at the head of the table;

dip your spoon in the bowl.

Seat yourself next your joy

and have your awakened soul

pour wine. Branches in the

spring wind, easy dance of

jasmine and cypress. Cloth

for green robes has been cut

from pure absence.  You’re

the tailor, settled among his

shop goods, quietly sewing.

...

I wish all of you a week filled with peace and joy.

Zeynep

From RUMI

"Inside you there's an artist you don't know about.
...
Say yes quickly, if you know, if you've known it
from before the beginning of the universe."

From the Great Master RUMI

A Light Within His Light

I circled awhile with each of the intelligences,
the nine fathers that control the levels of spirit growth.

I revolved for years with the stars
through each astrological sign.

I disappeared into the kingdom of nearness.
I saw what I have seen, receiving nourishment
as a child lives in the womb.

Personalities are born once.
A mystic many times.

Wearing the body-robe, I have been busy
in the market, weighing and arguing prices.

Sometimes I have torn the robe off
with my own hands and thrown it away.

I have spent long nights in monasteries,
and I have slept with those who claim
to believe nothing on the porches of pagodas,
just traveling through.

When someone feels jealous,
I am inside the hurt and the need to possess.

When anyone is sick,
I feel feverish and dizzy.

I am cloud and rain being released,
then the meadow as it soaks in.

I wash the grains of mortality
from the cloth around a dervish.

I am the rose of eternity,
not made of water or fire,
not of the wandering wind
or even earth. I play with those.

I am not Shams of Tabriz,
but a light within his light.

If you see me, be careful.
Tell no one what you have seen.

Pure Silence

December 17th. Today is tbe death anniversary of Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi.

It feels right to share a poem of his, through Coleman Barks' translations.

Pure Silence

I have come this time
to burn my thorns,
to purıfy my life,
to take up service again
in the garden.

I come weeping to these waters
to rise free of passion and belief.

Look at my face. These tears
are traces of you.

I will shorten this poem,
because the rest of it
is being said in the world
within our eyes.

Do you know this silence?
It is not the same as in your room
when you have no one to talk to.

This is pure silence,
not the kind that happens
when living dogs are eating a dead one.

...

with love,
Z.

Our Big Transformaiton Game - Life

Last October I was introduced to a wonderful game called The Transformation Game. It is a game developed at Findhorn, in Scotland and I was introduced to it by Ms.Deniz Dinçel. Deniz was in Fethiye last November as a guest of the Fethiye Lions Club to give seminars in some of the high schools in Fethiye. The topic was ecological foot prints and global warming. She is a biologist by training and she is organising the eco-village design and sustainable living workshops with the Middle East Technical University in Ankara. Deniz is also one of the current three certified facilitators of The Transformation Game in Turkey.

I was in Ankara in February to attend the second international workshop on Sustainable Living at METU (ODTÜ). Teachers from Findhorn, Scotland and from Torri Superiori Ecovillage in Italy were in Ankara, to share their knowledge and experiences on sustainable living and permaculture. Prof. Dr. Ali Gökmen and Prof. Dr. İnci Gökmen of the Chemistry Department of METU were the hosts of the workshop. I am very grateful for the effort and contributions to the workshop.

Sustainability was discussed from the social and ecological aspects in depth. Of course it is a very broad area; however it was a wonderful experience to share a whole week with like minded people from all around the world and Turkey. There were participants from Portugal, Israel, France and Australia. The instructors were from Turkey, Scotland and Italy. This was a confirmation for me that, in order to find solutions to global problems, we need to get together as citizens of this Earth.

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When the topic is the welfare of the planet I cannot seem to stop myself.  Maybe what we can do is very little, but we can only do what we can do…

Back toThe Transformation Game… The game has been on sale in the D&R book stores for the last 5-6 months. At least I bought mine last November after Deniz told me that the game was available in Turkish.

This game is a wonderful representation of life. We can start playing the game with an intention about life and in about five to eight hours, we can see how things will turn out or what qualities about ourselves that we need to realize, see, accept or change.

The game gives us a wonderful opportunity for self-discovery and self-awareness, and also the truer and the more sincere we are to the game, the more we benefit. It becomes, it represents a very honest and concentrated version of our life.

We learn and experience possibilities in life, without the permanent effects. After the game, we can choose to take action or not. Hard to explain.

I really recommend experiencing this game. Do not be fooled by the word “game”. The Transformation Game gives us an opportunity to learn, to grown to live the life that we desire, or whatever we truly desire.

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I was reading Neale Donald Walsch - again. My brother Yaman has been reading his books for the first time in the last few months and has been sharing with me his ideas about the books. I believe that Mr. Walsch has started a silent revolution for a happier world over a decade ago. I find his words sincere and from the heart. It has been maybe over four years since I listened to him in Istanbul. His approach to life and towards God could be worth listening to.

This week I would like to share some lines from his famous book series “Conversations with God”. So what could God be telling to us? Here it goes:

 You don’t have a clear focus; you’re not really sure what’s true for you. And the universe is just a big Xerox machine. It simply produces multiple copies of your thoughts. Now there’s only one way to change all that. You have to change your thought about it.

 Every prayer – every thought, every feeling, every statement – is creative. To the extent that it is fervently held as truth, to that degree will it be made manifest in your experience.


 We dare not solve all the problems, or there will be nothing left for us to do.

 Worry is the activity of a mind which does not understand its connection with God.

 Your perception of ultimate reality is more limited that you thought, and Truth is more unlimited than you can imagine.

 No one who has attained mastery is dull. Unusual, perhaps. Extraordinary, perhaps. But never dull.

 A true Master is not the one with the most students, but one who creates the most Masters.

 Your ideas about Right and Wrong are just that – ideas. They are the thoughts which form the shape and create the substance of Who You Are. There would be only one reason to change any of these; only one purpose in making alteration; if you are not happy with who you are.

 You have come here to work out an individual plan for your own salvation. Yet salvation does not mean saving yourself from the snares of the devil. You are saving yourself from the oblivion of non-realization.

 Why not simply acknowledge the truth when you hear it, and move towards it?

 You are not on this planet to produce anything with your body. You are on this planet to produce something with your soul. Your body is simply and merely the tool of your soul.

 The more you are, the more you can become, and the more you can become, the more you can yet be.

 There is no coincidence, and nothing happens “by accident.”

 You misunderstand your power. I tell you this: Your life proceeds out of you intentions for it.

 I talk to everyone. All the time. The question is not to whom do I talk, but who listens?

 A true teacher is not the one with the most knowledge, but one who causes the most others to have knowledge.

 Nothing occurs in your life - nothing – which is not first a thought. Thoughts are like magnets, drawing effects to you.

 Be patient. You are gaining wisdom.

 Every human thought, and every human action, is based in either love or fear. There is no other human motivation.

 You must first see yourself as worthy before you can see another as worthy. You must first see yourself as blessed before you can see another as blessed. You must first know Self to be holy before you can acknowledge holiness in another.

 You can know yourself to be generous, but unless you do something which displays generosity, you have nothing but a concept. You can know yourself to be kind, but unless you do someone a kindness, you have nothing but an idea about yourself.

 The soul – your soul – knows all there is to know all the time. There is nothing hidden to it, nothing unknown. Yet knowing is not enough. The soul seeks to experience.

 Treating others with love does not necessarily mean allowing others to do as they wish.

 God asks that you include yourself among those you love.


*-*-*

May your life be what you truly desire.

With love and light,
Z.


Affirmation of the Week:“Peace comes from remembering that only love is real.”
By Doreen Virtue

Quote of the Week:
“Lovers find secret places
Inside this violent world
Where they make transactions
With beauty.”
Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi

Zeynep’s Book Recommendation:“Sincerity and Truth – The Life Story of Meishusama” by Gerard Rohlfing

TV Program: Understanding Mevlana

On December 17th, 2007 Zeynep Kocasinan was the guest on the program titled "Understanding Mevlana-Mevlana'yı Anlamak" on Channel 21.Yuzyil (21st Century) Television in Fethiye. She shared information on Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi's life, his books and poems, as well as his selected poems. The 30 minute long program was first aired on the death anniversary of the great Sufi and poet Rumi, also to commemorate the 800th year of Mevlana's birth in 2007. The year 2007 had been declared as the "Year of Mevlana" by UNESCO to emphize Mevlana's messages of love and tolerance in the world.